Paul De Lamerie

Paul de Lamerie was a silversmith based in London and described by the V&A museum as ‘the greatest silversmith working in England in the 18th Century.’

Paul was born in the Netherlands to Huguenot parents in 1688. His father became an officer in William III’s army and moved to London in 1689 when Paul was a year old.

Paul became an apprentice of Pierre Platel, a London goldsmith of Huguenot origin in 1703 and went on to open his own workshop in 1713 and in 1716 was given a Royal Warrant as goldsmith to George I.

Between 1723 and 1728 he worked in partnership with Ellis Gamble who had been the apprentice master of William Hogarth, the renowned engraver.

His early work followed the simple Queen Anne style, but he later became noted for his elaborate Rococo styles from the 1730s onwards with one unidentified craftsman’s work standing out. Probably trained as a chaser, the ‘Maynard Master’ produced richly decorated works with distinctive features such as lion’s heads and masks as decorative motifs. The most famous piece known as ‘The Maynard Dish’ was produced in 1736 and was the first showing of the unknown designer’s artistry and is acknowledged as the apogee of English Rococo silver.

Lamerie’s customers included all the rich and famous of his day including Tsarinas Anna and Catherine of Russia, Sir Robert Walpole, the Duke of Bedford, the Earls of Ilchester and Thanet, Viscount Tyrconnel and many other members of the English aristocracy and upper classes. He also provided works to the Portuguese Court, but unfortunately one piece, a huge solid silver bathtub was lost in the Lisbon earthquake of 1755.